Jehovah’s Witnesses ‘hushed up’ child abuse

The UK’s main Jehovah’s Witness organisation has responded to abuse claims, denying that it shields abusersMary Turner

Men and women who were abused by Jehovah’s Witnesses as children have alleged that the organisation told them not to report incidents to the police.

Victims have revealed that they were regularly abused and claimed that the religion’s guidelines protected those who carried it out.

The organisation has described allegations that Jehovah’s Witnesses covered up abuse as “absolutely false” and said that victims and parents had an “absolute right” to report any such incidents to the authorities.

One victim, Louise Palmer, waived her right to anonymity and said that she was born as a Jehovah’s Witness, as was her brother, Richard Davenport, who went on to start raping her when she was four. In 2015 he was jailed for 14 years, later reduced to 10.

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